Hong Kong Airlines unveils new business class menu

Hong Kong Airlines is rolling out a new business class menu series developed in collaboration with local chef, Gabriel Choy, that will be served on all flights departing Hong Kong.

Choy has worked at a number of notable restaurants alongside celebrity chefs, including Gordon Ramsay’s London restaurant Petrus, Heston Blumenthal’s three-Michelin-starred The Fat Duck, and Gaddi’s at The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel.

The menu will comprise 12 Western dishes with Asian twists that will be rolled out over the next 12 months, though an exact schedule for when each dish will be rotated in hasn’t been unveiled. The menus on regional flights will rotate every two weeks, however, and every month on long-haul services.

Business class passengers also will be able to pre-order their meals on select routes, enabling them to choose their dishes between 30 days and 24 hours prior to their scheduled departure. The facility is available for travellers flying from Hong Kong to Auckland, Cairns/Gold Coast, Los Angeles, Vancouver and the airline’s upcoming flights to San Francisco.

“We started business class pre-order for main meals in December, available on long-haul flights, and we’re working towards rolling that out onto regional flights soon,” Chris Birt, Hong Kong Airlines’ general manager for service delivery told Business Traveller Asia-Pacific. “At the moment, for long-haul business class yes; for regional, watch this space, it’s about to be launched.”

Birt also didn’t rule out the possibility of Hong Kong Airlines introducing a “dine-on-demand” system sometime in the future. “We’re definitely evaluating it [dine-on-demand], particularly as we grow our long-haul routes. The longer the flight, the more different are customers’ needs,” he added.

“On regional flights and the shorter routes, possibly not, but certainly we’re looking at a few concepts for long-haul travel, especially when we get the next fleet of Airbus A350 aircraft with the herringbone seats. That sort of service lends itself really well to dine-on-demand. We haven’t made a decision yet, but it’s certainly something we feel our customers want.”